Toilet Training without Tears or Trauma

by Penny Warner and Paula Kelly

This was another potty training book I read when going through that stage with my daughter. It is written by a child development specialist and a pediatrician, and outlines conventional methods, based on the latest research. Brief, easy to read, yet very informative. Describes "signs" that indicate your child is ready, and several different approaches to toilet training, according to how old the child is or their temperament. Most of the emphasis is on keeping the whole affair stress-free, which is good- although I'm not sure I agree that a bad potty-training experience can traumatize a child for life... Since my daughter was older than the babes Infant Potty Training was written for, I found a some of the ideas in Toilet Training without Tears or Trauma more useful for her age, and ended up applying a combination of the two different methods. Particularly effective, I remember, was putting a star-chart on her wall (when she was crazy about stickers). This book was pretty much strictly informative for me. The anecdotes from Infant Potty Training were much more interesting and memorable.

Rating: 3/5                   114 pages, 2003